Four years after breaking into the elite level of middle-distance running in the United States to make her first Olympic team, Rowbury did it again. She finished second in the 1,500 meters on Sunday at Hayward Field in a season best 4 minutes, 5.11 seconds on the not-quite final day of the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

"Relief would have to be the dominant emotion," the 27-year-old Rowbury said after finishing behind Morgan Uceny (4:04.59) and ahead of 2011 world champion Jenny Simpson (4:05.17) to form the U.S. trio for London.

"All season long we want to visualize the Olympics, but you have to make the team first." Rowbury said. "The U.S. team, as it says on the posters, is the hardest team to make. I can't think of a better U.S. women's 1,500 team to be sending.

"Look out, world!"

Befitting someone with undergraduate and graduate degrees from Duke, Rowbury ran a typically smart race in Sunday's final, remaining in contact with the leaders throughout while avoiding the kind of contact often seen in women's races.

"I was always prepared for a lot of carnage, for lack of a better word," she said. "You have to watch elbows and knees as people fight for a spot. I made sure I protected my space."

With a lap to go, Rowbury was tucked into third behind Uceny and Simpson as the three women created a gap on the other 10 runners in the race. Coming down the homestretch to the cheers of a record Hayward Field crowd of 22,497, each woman glanced at the video board to gauge her position relative to everyone else.

They liked what they saw: three runners secure in their mission to finish in the top three.

"I looked at the monitor and saw that we had separated ourselves," said Rowbury, the 2009 World Championships bronze medalist. "I was just so ecstatic to make this team, so proud to represent the U.S. at the Olympics again."

In third with less than 100 meters to go, Simpson said, "I was just trying to protect myself in the top three. I saw that the three of us had separated ourselves and I felt this overwhelming relief."

Simpson is, like Rowbury, a two-time Olympian, but in two different events. In 2008 she was primarily a steeplechase runner and was third in the Olympic trials in that event. Shortly thereafter she realized she could run a pretty fair metric mile as well and made the transition to the 1,500. A year ago she was the surprise world champion in the event.

"If the steeplechase goes bad, you've knocked your teeth in," Simpson said. "It's such a cool story going from four years ago to today. One of the joys of being a 1,500 runner is people understand so much better what you do."

Cal alum and Oakland resident David Torrence tried to give the Bay Area two Olympians in the 1,500 meters, but he fell short in the men's final minutes after Rowbury's race.

With two laps to go, Torrence was in ninth, but he quickly moved up into third place with 600 meters to go. He was still in good position with 200 remaining, but he faded in the final 100 and finished sixth in 3:37.70.

Leonel Manzano won in 3:35.75, with two former Oregon Ducks behind him - Matthew Centrowitz (3:35.84) and Andrew Wheating (3:36.68).

"I didn't have anything in the last 100," Torrence said. "That was the only gear I had. I felt my body shut down. I couldn't respond to those guys."

As for Rowbury, she leaves for Europe and three pre-Olympic meets on Wednesday. She'll be on the continent until the end of September, honing her craft as one of the best middle-distance runners around and certainly the best ever produced in San Francisco.

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